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IOC dismiss accusations of nepotism
( 2001-05-18 09:32 ) (7 )

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday dismissed suggestions it could be accused of nepotism in putting forward the son of president Juan Antonio Samaranch for election to the organisation in July.

Samaranch has proposed that his 41-year-old son, also called Juan Antonio, become an IOC member at the same meeting in Moscow when he steps down after 21 years at the top of the organisation.

Juan Antonio Samaranch junior, vice-president of the International Modern Pentathlon Federation, was one of seven candidates proposed by the IOC's executive board on Thursday to become new members in a vote at the Moscow session.

The IOC has been labelled in the past as the world's most exclusive sports club.

Samaranch, who survived intense media pressure to resign during the Salt Lake City bribery scandal in 1999, runs the risk of further criticism because of the decision.

But asked if the IOC was worried it could be accused of nepotism, IOC director general Francois Carrard said: "We have no reason to fear anything. This procedure is completely transparent. He is a regular candidate like all the others.

"In the old club days this sort of election was done by 'My dear friends I think it is time for me to resign and for my son or daughter to take my place -- acclaim acclaim'.

"There are no other candidates from Spain."

REJECTION RARE

The candidates will need to win a majority in a vote of IOC members at the meeting but it is rare for candidates who have been chosen to be turned down.

It is unlikely to happen at a meeting at which there will be much emotion among the membership as Samaranch retires around his 81st birthday in the city where he first became president at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Leading IOC figures are aware that Samaranch could face criticism because of the move just two months before he steps down.

Samaranch survived the calls for his head in the middle of the Salt Lake scandal, when 10 members left the organisation for breaking rules on accepting gifts from the US city when it was bidding successfully for the 2002 Winter Games.

The IOC has taken some time to recover from the blows to its image during the scandal. But it introduced reforms, bringing more athletes into its membership and banning members from visiting cities bidding for the Games.

Samaranch now runs the risk of his presidency ending in further controversy. The veteran Spaniard was not immediately available for comment after the meeting on Thursday but he is due to hold a news conference in Lausanne on Friday.

IOC executive board member Kevan Gosper said the move was unanimously supported on the third day of the board meeting.

"The president himself proposed his son," Carrard added. "It is not an exceptional case. The IOC has had at least seven or eight sons that have been elected in the past."

"His son is very active in sport. He is vice-president of an international federation and very active in national sport in Spain."

Dick Pound, a candidate in the presidential race to take over from Samaranch which will be decided in a vote in Moscow, said: "He is certainly not the first son of an IOC member to become a member."

IOC OFFSPRING

There have been eight cases of offspring of IOC members joining the organisation in the past.

India's Randhir Singh, who is also one of the seven candidates, is the son of former IOC member Kumar Bhalendra Singh who held office between 1947 and 1992.

The IOC has been keen to get more women into the organisation but just one of the seven candidates was female -- Els van Breda Vriesman of the Netherlands, president of the International Hockey Federation.

Australian John Coates, who played a key role in last year's successful Sydney Olympics, was also on the list.

Former Swiss president Adolf Ogi has also been proposed.

The other candidates were Cameroon's Issa Hayatou and Timothy Tsun Ting Fok of Hong Kong.